The NFC antenna design is one major part in every NFC reader design. For a proper NFC reader design, it is required to have the insights and skills about choosing the right antenna for your purpose as well as knowing the NFC antenna tuning procedure.

The important considerations to take into account from the NFC reader design perspective apply at the component level.

From the reader IC perspective, we need to consider:

·The RF protocols supported

·The RF output power and supply voltage

·The NFC modes

·The host interface and speed

·Where we want to integrate the NFC the solution

·Which certifications we want to apply

·And, the manufacturer support

From the MCU perspective, it is worth to think about:

·The Memory resources, in terms of ROM, RAM, EEPROM, as well as timers, ports, interrupts, watchdogs

From the security perspective, whether our applications deal with crypto keys and suitability to add a SAM module to

·Provide secure key storage and secure crypto calculation.

This session reviews the theoretical fundamentals and NFC antenna principles. It explains the importance of the antenna environment and how it influences the RF performance and it provides a step-by-step guide to the NFC antenna tuning procedure.